IGII2 4122 Monument of Agrippa

Monument of Agrippa

IG II² 4122 Date: 16/15 BC

The People (erected this statue of) Marcus Agrippa son of Lucius, three times consul, its own (5) benefactor.^[1]

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References:

IG II² 4122 (Translated text) (PHI)

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Images: Wikimedia Commons - (1)

Monument type: Pillar

Inscription type: Statue base (People)

Findspot: Acropolis, Monument of Agrippa (In situ)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This inscription appears on a monumental pedestal on the stairway leading up to the Propylaia on the Acropolis, which stands 8.91 metres high and once supported a bronze statue of a quadriga. There are cuttings on top of the base for the feet of two successive groups of horses. The current inscription, now heavily worn and barely visible, was inscribed over an erasure of the original inscription, which perhaps dedicated the monument to Eumenes II (W. B. Dinsmoor, AJA 24, 1920, 83). It is one of four very similar monumental plinths bearing chariot groups that were originally erected in honour of Attalid monarchs, all of which were eventually rededicated in honour of Julio-Claudian emperors and their relatives. The others are: the Donor's Monument in front of the Stoa of Attalos in the Agora, originally dedicated to Attalos II of Pergamon and subsequently rededicated to Emperor Tiberius (Agora XVIII 253); SEG 59.211 located in front of the northeast corner of the Parthenon, perhaps rededicated to Claudius; and "Base P2," known only from fragments found on the Acropolis. Two of these Attalid bases had apparently earlier been rededicated in honour of Marcus Antonius (Plut. Ant. 60.6; on Antonius and Athens, see Agora XVIII 273 with notes). On this monument, see M. Korres in A. Jacquemin, Delphi cent ans après la Grand fouille, 2000, 314-328; M. C. Monaco in E. Greco, Topografia di Atene I, 2010, 78-80. On the reinscription of the honorific monuments on the Acropolis in the Imperial period, see J. Shear in Z. Newby and R. Leader-Newby, Art and Inscriptions in the Ancient World, 2007, 221-246. On the Attalids and Athens, see C. Habicht, Hesperia 59, 1990, 561-77.

The honorand, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, was Augustus' right hand man from childhood. From 18 BC until his death in 12 BC he held legal powers roughly equivalent to those of Augustus (see J.-M. Roddaz, Marcus Agrippa, 1984). He was placed in charge of the Eastern Mediterranean in 23-22 BC and 17-13 BC and visited Athens in 16/15 BC. Probably on this occasion, he initiated the construction of the Odeion of Agrippa and the Temple of Ares in the Athenian Agora (H. A. Thompson, Hesperia 19, 1950, 31-141; A. J. S. Spawforth in M. C. Hoff and S. I. Rotroff, Romanization of Athens, 1997, 186-88; C. Dickenson, On the Agora, 2017, 258-64) and made the first grant of Roman citizenship to an Athenian statesman, Antipatros of Phlya, the leading figure of early Augustan Athens (AIUK 2 (BSA), no. 5 with notes). The rededication of this statue group probably belongs to this time. Agrippa is also honoured in IG II² 4123 (found nearby). Statues of Agrippa in the Archaeological Museum of Venice and the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (inv. 609) may originally come from Athens. On the honours for Agrippa and Athens and Greece, see M. Kantiréa Le dieux et le dieux augustes 2007, 53-56.

Agrippa was also significant as a dynastic lynchpin of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. He married Augustus' only daughter, Julia the Elder in 21 BC (on whom see I Delos 1592). The children of this union included three of Augustus' heirs: Gaius Caesar (IG II² 3250), Lucius Caesar (IG II² 3251), and Agrippa Postumus (I Délos 1593), as well as Agrippina the Elder, wife of Germanicus and mother of Gaius Caligula (Agora XVIII 255). A daughter by a previous marriage, Vipsania, was the first wife of the emperor Tiberius and mother of his only son, Drusus Caesar (on whom, see IG II² 3257).

Added: 24 Jul 2026
Updated: 24 Jul 2026
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ID: AIO_3823